[Advaita-l] Tattvabodha of Adi Sankaracharya - 17

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Namaste Kartik ji

What is the contemporary understanding of Prana?

The question is valid since prANa as the vital air or life force is
accepted by most Indian darshanas like sAMkhya and yoga etc. This implies
it was a matter for anumAna pramANa or inference. We do not need to invoke
shruti to establish the vyAvahArika entity called prANa. If that is
accepted, then we have the following matter to ponder.

Modern Science too uses various types of inferences and denies the
observable existence of anything called prANa. They invoke occams razor
(the principle of parsimony, gaurava-doSha-rAhityam) to negate the need to
postulate prANa.

Can we advance arguments to assert the existence of prANa?

I have heard of arguments from 'negative entropy' etc. I do appreciate that
when we explore the scientific explanations of the life pricess, we should
not reduce prANa to another physical entity. That would be self-defeating.
Rather we look for physiological or life processes which cannot be
explained away merely with a materialistic paradigm of the universe. That
would atleast make some space for postulating prANa.

For example some leads might be from photosynthesis being not entirely
explainable using simplistic 19th century molecular chemistry based on
billiard ball materialism. As in...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180521131756.htm

Om
Raghav





On Tue, 14 Jul, 2020, 12:51 AM S Jayanarayanan via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> (Continued from previous post)
>
>
> 2.5.2 The Vital Air Sheath - prANamaya koSa
>
> prANamayaH kaH ? What is the Vital-Air Sheath ?
>
>  prANAdyAH pa~nchavAyavaH vAgAdIndriyapa~nchakaM
>  prANamayaH koshaH .
>
> prANamaya koSa or the Vital Air Sheath
> comprises Of the five physiological functions
> such as prANa etc. (prANa, apAna, vyAna,
> udAna and samAna), along with the five organs
> Of action such as speech etc.
>
> prANAdyAH pa~nchavAyavaH The five physiological
> functions and the five vital airs responsible for
> those functions are:
>
> prANa Respiration
> apAna Evacuation
> vyAna Circulation
> udAna Rejection - Reversal / Throwing up,
> tears etc; becomes active at the time
> of death especially.
> samAna - Assimilation / Digestion
>
> vAgAdIndriyapa~nchakaM The five organs of action are
> speech, hands, legs, anus and the genitals.
> These were described earlier.
>
> It is part of the subtle body - sukshma
> Sareeram.
>
> 2.5.3 The Mental Sheath - manomaya koSa
>
> manomayaH koshaH kaH ? What is the Mental Sheath ?
>
>  manashcha j~nAnendriyapa~nchakaM militvA yo bhavati
>  samanomayaH koshaH .
>
> The Mental Sheath is what is formed by the
> Mind along with the five sense organs.
> manashcha - Along with the mind
>
> j~nAnendriyapa~nchakaM - five sense organs - organs of
> touch, sound, form, taste and smell.
>
> militvA - putting together
>
> yo bhavati  samanomayaH koshaH | the Mental Sheath.
>
> The identification of the Self with Mind being
> the seat of emotions, together with the five
> organs of perception gives rise to the "Mental
> Sheath" (i.e emotional feelings such as , "I am
> happy, I am angry" etc.).
>
> 2.5.4 The Intellectual Sheath - vijnAnamaya koSa
>
> vij~nAnamayaH kaH ? What is the Intellectual Sheath?
> buddhij~nAnendriyapa~nchakaM militvA yo bhavati sa
> vij~nAnamayaH koshaH .
>
> The  Intellectual Sheath is what is  formed by
> the  Intellect  along  with  the  five  organs  Of
> perception.
>
> BuddhiH - The Intellect
>
> j~nAnendriyapa~nchakaM - five  sense  organs - organs  of
> touch, sound,  form,  taste and smell.
>
> militvA - putting together
>
> yo bhavati sa vij~nAnamayaH koshaH I what is obtained is
> the Intellectual Sheath.
>
> The identification of the Self with the Intellect,
> being the deciding faculty, together with the
> five organs of perception gives rise to the
> "Intellectual Sheath" (i.e with the nature of
> "assertion" - I am the doer, I am the knower
> etc. - compared to the "Mental Sheath" with
> the nature of "Vascillation").
>
>
> (Continued in next post)
>
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